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The last post I saw from HeatherinFlorida was 3:30 Saturday afternoon. She was staying in her house, expecting the storm to go right over her house. She turned off the computerr when the rains and wind started picking up. That area still has a lot of places without power or phone and we sure hope that's the only reason she hasn't been back.

Jazzsea was headed for a shelter, I believe. I think she was directly in the path also. Sure hope to hear from all of our CC'ers that have gone missing from the boards since the storm.

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I am back . and we are fine. Thank you so so so much for thinking of me. Our power was out till last night late and still we had no internet and even now no phones. So much destruction everywhere, so awful, so sad. But we are fine!!! Our house is fine!! Molly and Sammie (dog and cat) are fine!!!

When I finally saw pictures of the devastation everywhere down here, so much guilt welled up in me for complaining over the past 3 days. But you only have your own perspective at the time. And Ray and I worked for a day and a half just getting our shutters up and everything secured (almost all of them are still up just in case :eek: ). We lost our power early Saturday and from then on listened to our battery radio almost every minute. They had simulcast of our local TV station and I became so attached to our newspeople ... they were my lifeline to what was going on outside. Saturday night was the worst of the storm for us. Lying in bed in the pitch black black black ... totally shuttered in and in basic lockdown the winds started rising to over 100 mph around 1 a.m. I got up and went to another room to check the radio where they said we were in the "eye wall" which is the worst part of the storm on the edge of the eye where it is calm. We never got the calm part:) . I lay there shuddering and wimpering like a little girl. Besides the howling of the winds I would hear crashing and cracking as tiles were thrown from rooves and trees snapped and branches and heaven knows what blew everywhere. I can honestly say it was the worst night of my life, but so much worse for so many others.

In the morning when the winds calmed somewhat (this was one of the longest hurricanes I think ever on record) ... I felt so relieved that we were intact, our home was intact that I thought nothing further could bother me.

But as time went on and we were told we might not get power for 2 weeks, and as I finally threw away the last morsel of food from the fridge and looked yet again at peanut butter & jelly, I was feeling pretty darned sorry for myself:) . We had turned off all the fuses except one light so when that light clicked on last night there is no describing my joy. I ran into the street dancing! Not kidding! For the next hour or 2 the power came on and off and you could hear people across our lake calling out "nooooooooooooooooo.....".

But all was well and we slept in the cool comfort of our a/c and I said many prayers and most especially for all the people (last I heard 70% still without electricity in Palm Beach County alone) who are so much worse off than we are .... lining up in their cars for miles just for ice, water and MRE's.

Thanks for your thoughts ... thank your for caring. I couldn't wait to get on and tell you we're okay and thank you for your prayers. I hope everyone else is okay too. Haven't had time to review the threads, but saw Sail's post with my name and thought this would be a good place come back.

Oh!!! And so much for my gut feeling that we weren't going to get it;) . And don't anybody say Ivan to me!!!!!:D

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Great to hear that you came through it OK. Seeing the reporters out in the hurricane was awful. My mother is in Boynton Beach, and still without power. Her and her husband went today to stay with his sister who got power back already. I hope Ivan stays away from Florida. You poor people have more than your share of storms this summer.

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Ah, Sail, thank you. You are so so sweet! Yes, actually after 3 days being so hot, the a/c almost freezes me out, but I'm not complaining:D !

I'm about to nod off, but did want to tell you they are doing an amazing job down here with food, etc. While the lines for gas are upward to 100 cars in some places, I very hesitently ventured out today to find some food. What a joy to arrive at our Publix to see what seemed like hundreds of people stocking shelves, putting out milk, baking bread in the bakery, loading beef tenderloins onto the shelves. And then the comfort of the National Guard servicemen stopping in for a snack and a smile. Volunteers are everywhere. Jeb Bush has been a constant source of encouragement and assurance that help is on the way. It's all been magnificently organized except for a few early on FEMA mess-ups which is to be expected considering the scope of the damage. All the food stores lost everything and had to completely restock. Fresh food never looked so wonderful ... a little like a diamond ring:) .

Workers have come from all over the country to help us get all services back up and running. My nephew was home to Boston from Savannah Saturday and he said it was amazing to see all the utility trucks headed south to gather at the border to be ready to come down.

In times like this, people show their true spirit and abundant generosity. See you all tomorrow.

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Wow, I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like. We have been through a couple of good sized earthquakes here in SoCal and those were pretty scary (the last one particularly) but earthquakes last only seconds or a minute...you had to listen to the destruction for hours....glad to hear that things are (relatively) okay. And you're right about this kind of disaster bringing out the best in people...too bad it takes something like this for people to help each other.

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Heather, I am so glad you and DH and Molly and Sammie are all fine. I can only imagine how terrible Saturday night must of been, so slow and painful. With no air and what every one has gone through I can only guess how exhausted you must be. Get lots of rest and we will see you back on the boards soon.

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Oh Heather! The power of prayer comes through again! Really, you should be a reporter, your insight and great reporting puts some of the paid people to shame! I appreciate you spending time to report to us on the boards, stay safe and pray that Ivan doesn`t change his mind again!.....jean :cool:

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So glad to hear you and yours are safe. Your description of Saturday night was so vivid. I can't imagine having to live through it!! You and all the Floridians who have been affected these past weeks are very much in our thoughts.

My BIL and Niece who live in Ft. Pierce both went south to Naples when the predicted landfall was announced. Haven't heard whether they are back home yet. We were told that her house was damaged, suspect his mobile home is no longer livable. So sad!!